


A Simple Thing

by kuro



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Asexuality, Fluff, M/M, Misunderstandings, kinnnnd of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-05
Updated: 2014-11-05
Packaged: 2018-02-24 05:57:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2570666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kuro/pseuds/kuro
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Skinny and sickly art student Steve has somehow managed to land Tony Stark as his sugar daddy. But while Tony is certainly very sweet, he somehow doesn't seem to care about Steve all that much?</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Simple Thing

**Author's Note:**

> Edit: I edited the end a teeny bit. No major change, I just erased the teeny consent issue.

“…Tony. Hey, Tony.”

“Hmmm?” Tony asked lazily. He was sprawled out on the sofa, typing away on this tablet, but his eyes were a little unfocused and drooping.

“Didn’t you have any…plans?” Steve asked from where he was stretched out on top of Tony, covering him like a human blanket. “You called me and asked me to come over, but we’ve been here for an hour now, and…” He trailed off, unsure of what to say. _You haven’t even tried having sex with me_ sounded pretty horrible no matter what.

“Oh, but this was my plan,” Tony said, finally looking up from the tablet, eyebrows raising a little in surprise. “Unless you wanted to do anything else? Do you want to get dinner? I could do dinner.”

“No, I…” Steve hesitated before he continued to speak. “I’m not doing _anything._ I’m just lying around. I thought you wanted wanted me to do something, that’s why you called me.”

“Don’t you worry about that,” Tony laughed, putting the tablet down onto the side table. “You’re doing exactly what I want you to do.”

Steve furrowed his brows, unable to make sense of that. Tony only laughed harder when he saw Steve’s doubtful face. He slipped an arm around Steve’s waist and turned them around so that Steve was lying on the sofa and Tony was on top of him.

A quick kiss to Steve’s cheek, and Tony was standing up. Steve tried hard not to feel disappointed.

“How about take-out, then?” Tony asked, pulling out a bunch of leaflets and take-out menus from somewhere and handing them to Steve. “I could use some food.”

That was the opposite of what Steve had tried to say, actually, but he _was_ a little peckish. Italian sounded good, really, so he took the menu and opened it.

(Tony somehow managed to talk him into ordering the most expensive meal on the menu. On Tony’s expense, obviously. Steve really wasn’t sure how he managed that feat every single time.)

*

“Pep, Pep!” Tony sounded excited for some reason, pulling a rather reluctant Steve with him through the crowd that had gathered in the museum for the opening of the new exhibition. When he reached a tall woman with beautiful strawberry blonde hair, he beamed at her and kissed both of her cheeks. “Pepper, I need to introduce Steve to you! I’ve told you about him, remember, artist, tiny but with a mouth, almost beat me up when we met the first time?”

Pepper (Steve had heard about her before, but he still wasn’t quite sure exactly _what_ she was to Tony) raised an eyebrow at Tony, but when she turned around to greet Steve, her smile was genuine.

“Steve Rogers,” he nervously introduced himself. He had the distinct feeling that he was currently being dissected and tried his best not to fidget. It wasn’t like he didn’t know how out of place he looked, with his skinny frame stuck into his best suit that actually was an altered hand-me-down from Bucky. Did Pepper know what kind of agreement Tony and he had?

“My name is actually Virginia Potts,” Pepper eventually replied, holding out her hand and sounding amused for some reason. “But everyone calls me Pepper. So you’re an artist?”

“An art student, actually,” Steve answered bashfully, looking down onto his shoes. “I hope to graduate next year.”

When he looked up, he caught the tail end of a meaningful look that Pepper sent in the direction of Tony, who shrugged…dismissively?

Steve was confused; what kind of game was being played here?

“Well, Steve, I’m happy I finally got to meet you and I hope you enjoy the exhibition. They included, after all, artists supported by the Maria Stark Foundation,” Pepper said with a smile. “And don’t let yourself get talked into any of Tony’s ‘brilliant’ ideas. I can guarantee you they’re most likely going to backfire spectacularly.”

Tony opened his mouth to protest, but Pepper had already given him a kiss on his cheek, waved goodbye to Steve, and breezed off. How she managed to be so quick with _those_ heels on her feet was a mystery to Steve.

(Steve had worn heels like that, okay, he knew how difficult it was to make walking around in them look _good_.)

*

The drive home – to the Tower, actually, Tony had asked Steve to stay the night – was mostly quiet. Steve had felt rather overwhelmed with the whole event, people incessantly coming up to them and wanting to talk to Tony, giving Steve strange looks if they bothered to notice him at all. Steve had enjoyed the new exhibition and the chance to talk with some of the curators, but a lot of people who had talked to Tony had been unpleasant, to say the least.

Honestly, he was glad he didn’t have to be around these kinds of people every day. He spent most of his time around Bucky or the rest of his rather…unconventional friends, and wouldn’t change it for the world.

Steve wondered how Tony did it. It had been strange to see him interact with other people today, because that had not been how Tony usually was. He had been relaxed with Pepper, but as soon as some elderly gentleman had started to talk to Tony about market shares, Tony’s smile had become strained and his shoulders tense.

It had continued that way, right until the two of them had finally left the opening and climbed into the car. Tony had plopped into his seat, closed his eyes and ignored everything around him for a good ten minutes. Steve figured he would need that, too, after so many people pretending to like you (or outright insult you if they couldn’t be bothered).

Steve, on the other hand, couldn’t bring himself to calm down. Pepper’s reaction bothered him. Hell, _Tony_ bothered him.

So when Tony opened his eyes again, Steve gathered his courage.

“Tony,” he spoke up. “What is actually being played here? I mean, yes, you have been nothing but nice to me. So has Pepper. But then she looks at you like that, and…” _And you made me your boy toy, yet you seem to have no interest in me whatsoever._

Steve couldn’t stop the feeling of heaviness in his chest becoming stronger, like it was physically pulling him down. He had known what he was getting himself into, or at least, he had _thought_ he knew. But after the first relief had passed when Tony hadn’t suddenly turned into a creep after they had made an arrangement, Steve couldn’t help but feel something very close to disappointment.

Tony was never _mean_ to him. He invited him to all kinds of events that Steve would be interested in, and he always made Steve get the really good food. He spent time with him, listened to him ramble about his art and friends. He was something like a good friend with the added bonus that Steve got money out of it.

And he never, ever tried anything more than a hug or a kiss on the cheek with Steve.

Sure, Steve knew that he wasn’t the most attractive person on the planet, look at his tiny, skinny body riddled with health issues. And he knew that Tony could probably do better with just a flick of his fingers.

But then, why did he bother with Steve at all? They had met by accident. Steve had almost beat him up when he had mistakenly assumed that Tony had been the creep the girls had been talking about. Tony didn’t owe him a single thing. He could drop him at any time.

Tony sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “It has nothing-”

“-to do with me, right, I know,” Steve interrupted him, unable to keep the bitterness out of his voice.

Tony’s head shot up and he looked at Steve. _Really_ looked at Steve.

“You don’t understand,” he eventually said, reaching out as if to touch Steve.

“Oh, I do understand,” Steve hissed, slapping Tony’s hand away, and just when had he gotten angry?

Tony didn’t let himself be deterred, though, and he reached out for Steve anyway, cradling Steve’s head in his hands, moving so that their foreheads were pressed together.

“No, you don’t understand _at all_ ,” Tony stressed, caressing Steve’s cheeks with his thumbs. “You have no idea how important you are to me.”

“As what?” Steve asked, feeling his eyes well up with tears. “Your pet?”

“How could you ever think that?” Tony asked, eyes going wide.

“You have never even tried to _touch_ me!” Steve shouted and there, now he was crying. Talk about being a major downer.

“Steve, hey, no,” Tony murmured, kissing away the tears streaming down his face. Steve felt like the biggest idiot, and now he had even made Tony pity him. “I didn’t think that would bother you. And that’s what I meant when I said it’s not you. I like you, okay. A lot. I want to spend time with you and I want to make sure you’re fine. But…but…” He hesitated, not looking into Steve’s eyes. “I feel uncomfortable with sex, okay. I know, playboy and all that. I know. I was young and stupid and thought that it was normal. That I was supposed to be normal. When really all I want to have is someone that will stay in my arms for a while.”

He gave Steve a shaky smile. As if he was somehow afraid of being rejected.

That was when it finally clicked.

“You don’t want sex,” Steve said, astonished.

“…no,” Tony answered after a moment of hesitance.

“You spend almost all of your free time with me.”

“Mhm.”

“You…you just introduced me to Pepper as your boyfriend, didn’t you?”

“I just might have.” Tony was really smiling now.

“I’ve been basically dating you the whole time?”

“Let’s say I got a little too involved in the illusion.”

“No but… _Tony, I’ve been getting all that money from you._ ”

“I want to take care of you, it’s an investment, whatever, choose the justification most convenient for you.”

“I can’t take money from you if I’m dating you!”

“You could be my house hubby? Totally justified then,” Tony suggested, making overly innocent puppy eyes at Steve.

“…you’re actually serious, aren’t you?” Steve gaped.

“Serious about keeping you?” Tony asked, looking at Steve as if the answer was perfectly obvious. “I’d do a lot of things to keep you with me. Not everything, obviously, but a lot. I’m not a creep, I wouldn’t do anything that you wouldn’t want to, that would just be-”

“You’re rambling,” Steve interrupted him. “And Pepper told me not to go along with any of your brilliant ideas.”

“Oh please,” Tony groaned, rolling his eyes. “That is just rude. My ideas are obviously the best. Always.”

“I’m not so sure,” Steve said, playing up his disbelief. “But I could be swayed. When it comes to the dating part, anyway. I mean, the officially dating part. Er.”

Tony, luckily, didn’t seem to care about his stuttering and grinned like a child on Christmas morning.

 _There will be no unpacking presents, though_ , Steve thought to himself as Tony moved in to give him a kiss. An actual, real kiss, and it felt so good.

But well. Be it so, no unpacking then. That was perfectly okay, because Steve had been pretty dumb to get upset about it in the first place. It had never really been about the sex, had it? It had always been about Tony. That was what he had wanted, not realising that he already had it the whole time.

(House hubby instead of boy toy, hm. Steve might be able to deal with house hubby.)

**Author's Note:**

> Btw, the reason why Pepper gives Tony a look is because she obviously knows what's going on and is mostly like 'Seriously Tony? Why do you always have to do things assbackwards?'


End file.
